Folk Festival highlights Kalmyk, local culture

Thousands crowd onto Wood Lawn of the Eagleton Institute of
Politics on Douglass campus Saturday to learn about Kalmyk culture
at the New Jersey Folk Festival.

Centered around the Republic of Kalmykia, the New Jersey Folk
Festival (NJFF) hosted its 37th annual cultural celebration
Saturday on the Wood Lawn of the Eagleton Institute of Politics on
Douglass campus.

Thousands of visitors listened to both traditional Mongolian and
local N.J. folk music, watched cultural dance troupes and shopped
for handmade arts and crafts to celebrate the 60th anniversary of
the Kalmyk people's migration to the United States.

"The Kalmyks were a group of people from Mongolia who moved to
Russia. When Russia was the [Union of Soviet Socialist Republics,]
there was this issue where they were basically atheistic. So they
wouldn't let them have Buddhist temples," said Jack Hummel, the
festival's media coordinator.

As a result, they moved to America in the 1950s and settled
mainly in Philadelphia and Howell, N.J., said Hummel, a School of
Environmental and Biological Sciences first-year student. There are
between 1,000 and 3,000 Kalmyks in Howell.

To teach the public more about the culture, festival
coordinators had four "gers," circular tents held up by a wooden
frame and covered with felt material that served as traditional
housing for Mongolians, set up on the lawn.

"If you go to Kalmykia in modern day, you won't find this kind
of structure. But if you go to Mongolia, there are still a lot of
people who still use this type of material for housing, especially
in the outskirts of the city," said Telo Tulku Rin Poche, the
Buddhist spiritual leader of the Kalmyk people.

The "gers" can hold in warmth to withstand temperatures as low
as about 20 degrees below zero, Rin Poche said. But it can still be
kept cool during Mongolian summers, which reach up to 75 degrees,
by rolling up the felt covering and opening a circular vent at the
top of the structure.

A display of Kalmyk crafts and artwork were also showcased at
the festival, featuring artifacts like Mongolian bows and arrows as
well as paintings, poetry and calligraphy.

While many came to enjoy the weather and day's activities, the
festival held a deeper significance for one Red Bank family.

Bosson Guchinov, a Mongolian man who happened to be at the
University for a meeting, came to the folk festival with his wife
Stephanie and daughter Sophia after his sister Zeba told him about
it.

"I feel like I'm at home because I could speak the language and
I know a lot of people and I'm like really like them, back in
history," he said.

Just by attending, Guchinov coincidentally reunited with a few
childhood friends he grew up with in Howell where his family
attended a Buddhist church.

Likewise, Sophia Guchinov was also excited to see the Kalmyk
cultural displays since she meets very few other Mongolians.

"To see all this, it's so amazing because I know the people and
are related to them. So they actually built these [‘gers'] and have
these in Mongolia, and that means a lot because there's a big
connection there," she said. "This [festival] is really good
because I'm … learning a lot more."

The idea to feature Kalmykia came from NJFF trustee Nikolai
Burkaloff, who had a passion for the ethnic group and worked with
NJFF Director Angus Gillespie to build relationships and
connections to bring the "gers," Hummel said.

"This year, it's pretty remarkable because most people haven't
even heard of Kalmykia," said Gillespie, a professor in the
Department of American Studies. "But you just spend the day here,
you come away with a better understanding."

Gillespie first launched the folk festival in 1975 when the dean
of Douglass College wanted a year dedicated to the arts. The
University had recently built an art school building complex, which
is today known as Mason Gross School of the Arts.

When he spoke to the dean and joined the committee organizing
the celebration, he was named director of the folk festival and was
given $1,300 to run it.

Now that the NJFF has become a part of Rutgers Day, the
festival's committee receives about $50,000 to run the day, Hummel
said.

Gillespie said joining with Rutgers Day served as an advantage,
since the University-wide event has an advertising budget larger
than the NJFF's budget and therefore has a greater reach.

"If there's a disadvantage, it's that the message of the folk
festival gets subsumed by this larger picture. But on the whole
it's a good thing," he said.

Still visitors like Linda Levenberg of Elizabeth, who came with
a friend, managed to enjoy the day while learning about a different
culture.

"We listened to music in at least three to four different
venues. We walked the craft line and sat in a ‘ger,'" she said. "We
got a look at the Kalmyk culture, which we really weren't aware of
before."

Levenberg, who graduated from Douglass College in 1977, is still
involved with the Associate Alumnae of Douglass College.

"I don't think the campus has changed all that much," she said.
"I think it's great that it's still as beautiful as it was."

Lauren Saxer, the festival manager, said the committee's hard
work paid off, and that she was happy with the large turnout.

"My favorite part about today is seeing … families from all
overcrowding the lawn of Eagleton," said Saxer, a School of Arts
and Sciences senior. "I mean it's so different from what you
usually see [at Rutgers] and everybody's generally interested in
everything that we have."

Guchinov said he enjoyed his time and appreciated the
recognition of his heritage.

"[Mongolia] is the least populated in the whole world and it's
rich to get some kind of history," he said. "You're not going to
get this from [anywhere else]. It's not in the history books
anywhere."